TELEGRAM TO S. I. GUSEV FOR THE UFA REVOLUTIONARY COMMITTEE

Written:Written on January 6, 1919Published:First published in 1960 in the book: Y. M. Sverdlov,Izbranniye proizvedeniya v trekh tomakh(Selected Works in three volumes), Vol. 3.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1975,

      Moscow,Volume 44,

      pages183b-184a.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:R. CymbalaPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive.You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work, as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

GusevRevolutionary Military Council, Eastern FrontArzamas

Informthe Revolutionary Committee in Ufa for their
guidance that negotiations must be begun immediately
with the Socialist-Revolutionaries who are proposing
negotiations, after taking all precautions against attempts at
provocations and for safeguarding the front, while at the
same time guaranteeing absolute personal immunity to the
envoys from the Socialist-Revolutionaries. At the talks it
is to be stated clearly straight away that there can be no
question of any change in the Soviet Constitution, because
Soviet power, being the power of the exploited classes
for suppressing the exploiters, has definitely proved its
necessity for securing victory over the bourgeoisie, and
the Soviet movement is now spreading to all countries of
the world.

Continuallyreport directly to us on the whole course
of the negotiations, and on the participants of both
sides.[2]

Lenin,Sverdlov[1]

[1]Thelast sentence of the telegram and the signatures are in
Sverdlov’s handwriting.—Ed.

[2]Thistelegram was sent in reply to an inquiry from the Ufa
Revolutionary Committee to whom the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries
had made a proposal to begin negotiations for joint action against
Kolchak.

Thetalks with the Ufa Right Socialist-Revolutionaries were
held during January-February 1919 in Ufa and Moscow.

Atthe end of February, the All-Russia Central Executive
Committee adopted a resolution on the attitude towards the Right
Socialist-Revolutionaries. In view of the positive results of the
talks and the fact that on February 8, 1919, the party conference
of the Right Socialist-Revolutionaries declared itself opposed to
an armed struggle against Soviet power and to foreign intervention
in Russia’s affairs, the All-Russia Central Executive Committee
passed a decision to give to the groups of Right Socialist–
Revolutionaries which adopted this stand the right “to participate in
Soviet work”. (IzvestiaNo. 45, February 27, 1919.)